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Understanding

“I was discharged from inpatient at a psychiatric ward- it was the most challenging but eye-opening experience of my life, but I hope never to repeat. It has taught me so much about me, my illness and how to care for myself. Nearly 6 months is a long time to be away from your friends, family, school…and has allowed me to see the people who are actually there when the going gets tough and the people who don’t want to or can’t understand. I know I’m not 100% there yet, but I’m a lot closer to recovery than I was last year and I have never been more proud.”

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Also having stayed at a ward for a while. I can connect. You find out who are your real friends and who really matters. However, there were a few that didn’t visit me, but I understood that was their way of dealing with it by just texting me and asking how I was. It is definitely a great one to re-evaluate relationships.

I was in psych hospitals 10 times in the past. I only had one guest. My husband. That is despite the fact that most all of my family only lives 25 mins from the one psych hospital and 35 mins from the other. Hubby called my dad and told him each time I was admitted. Dad said “Give her my best and ask her to call me when she gets out.” I will never forget that.

My nephew was admitted to psych hospitals a total of eight times before his 20th birthday. The only two people that visited him were my sister and me. My nephew never forgets that. Just the other day he called me and asked if I could come and have lunch with him. It was his treat. He said it was the first time he ever treated anyone to lunch.

It’s so powerful to hear that visits really help at the psychiatric ward. I just recently started working at one and it’s been a really eye opening experince. I’m so interested in how patients feel. I also can’t help but ask the visitors several questions about their loved ones and how they feel. I just started blogging about my experience working at the ward if you’re interested.

Thanks for sharing this! I stumbled upon this post as I was looking for any opinions on psychiatric wards. I just took up a job working at one and I’m blogging about my experience day by day. I always wonder how the patients themselves who are there feel and if it really helps, because once patients are discharged I never get to talk to them again.